Maiden ITTF World Tour event in India to begin in New Delhi today

The first ever ITTF World Tour event in India will begin today at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex in New Delhi. The 1.5 lakh US dollar India Open also happens to be the biggest ever ITTF event in terms of prize money. But despite the rewards on offer, a majority of the top international table tennis stars have given the competition a miss. Overall, 80 players have confirmed their participation, 52 in the men's section and 28 in the women's section.

It is a draw of 32 for both and men's and women's singles with the top 16 getting a direct entry into the main draw beginning February 16. The qualification rounds will be held on February 14 and 15, when as many as 29 Indians will vie to make the main draw. Sharath Kamal, country's highest-ranked player at 62, is India's sole



direct entry in the men's singles draw. India's leading player Soumyajit Ghosh will also seen in action. In the women's section, World number 88 Manika Batra will be leading Indian the challenge and is seeded 10th, ahead of compatriots 12th seed Mouma Das, 14th seed Ayhika Mukherjee and 16th seed Ankita Das.

While the mighty Chinese and South Koreans are not figuring in the tournament, the notable players taking part are World number five Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany and eighth-ranked Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus. Japan will be represented by Koki Niwa, ranked 19th, Yuto Muramatsu, ranked 24th and Yuya Oshima, ranked 39. World number 13 Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong is the highest-ranked player in the women's draw, followed by her teammate Lee Ho Ching (24).